{"id":7462,"date":"2011-08-30T06:30:12","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T18:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=7462"},"modified":"2011-08-30T08:19:40","modified_gmt":"2011-08-29T20:19:40","slug":"tuesday-poem-enchantress-of-numbers-by-helen-rickerby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2011\/08\/30\/tuesday-poem-enchantress-of-numbers-by-helen-rickerby\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Poem: “Enchantress of Numbers” by Helen Rickerby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enchantress of Numbers<\/strong>
\nAda Byron King, Countess of Lovelace<\/em>
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

One<\/span><\/p>\n

On the table
\nis a dancing girl
\nmade of silver, spun by gears
\nand cogs\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0she pirouettes
\n……………<\/span>…….<\/span>she arabesques
\nand when she begins to slow
\nI wind the key again
\n…….<\/span>let her go<\/p>\n

My father the poet, my mother
\nthe parallelogram
\n……….<\/span>two lines
\n……….<\/span>that should never have crossed
\nPassion and
\nreason, frenzy and logic
\n………..<\/span>…….<\/span>It\u2019s no wonder
\nit ended as it did<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two<\/span><\/p>\n

She said she was protecting me
\nfrom his blood, my blood
\nand the poison that was waiting there<\/p>\n

Sitting at my desk
\nmy books open
\nshe wrapped me, laced me
\nin numbers, equations
\nlike a whale-bone corset
\nto keep my back
\nstraight, my spine aligned
\nand threaded through my mind
\nlittle lines of logic
\na program for equilibrium<\/p>\n

And so you see
\n…………………<\/span>it was my mother
\nwho first programmed\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 me<\/p>\n

But maybe the software
\ndoesn\u2019t work
\nI think, in the dark summerhouse
\nwith my tutor
\nMaybe a line of code
\nis incorrect
\nas I feel the lick
\nof his eyelashes
\nagainst my shoulder<\/p>\n

He is dismissed
\nI walk five miles
\nto find him
\nbut he has already gone<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three<\/span><\/p>\n

A present from my mother
\nand today\u00a0\u00a0 not even
\n…………….<\/span>my birthday
\nI am twenty years of age
\nI am safely married
\nI am waiting
\nfor my own first child
\nI am no longer an accident
\nwaiting to happen<\/p>\n

She sends me
\nsomething dangerous, something
\nexplosive
\nBehind my composure
\nI faint as I tear
\nthe corner of the paper
\nrip away
\nthe shield, the protection
\nand there he is
\nglowing
\nwithin the gilt frame
\nturban knotted around
\nhis noble head
\n……………..<\/span>I see in him
\nmy own eyes, my mouth
\nthe cleft of my chin<\/p>\n

and I can see
\nwhy she kept this
\nkept\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 him
\nfrom me<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four<\/span><\/p>\n

I never met him, my father
\n………… <\/span>but I grew
\nin his shadow, in his light
\nWhat he was with words
\nI would be
\nwith numbers
\nAn alchemist, an enchantress
\n …………….<\/span>I promised\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 myself<\/p>\n

I first saw the dancing girl
\nin Babbage\u2019s studio
\nA toy, a fancy
\nMy eyes lighted
\non a plainer set of
\ncogs and wheels
\nengraved with numbers
\n……………..<\/span>The Difference Engine
\nThe other ladies scattered
\ntheir tinkling laughter but I
\nasked, \u2018How does it work?\u2019<\/p>\n

He told me
\n……………….<\/span>and I understood<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five<\/span><\/p>\n

The Analytical Engine
\nwas harder, because
\n…….<\/span> it didn\u2019t exist
\nexcept in our minds
\n.. <\/span>But I\u00a0\u00a0 .<\/span>can explain it
\nshare it
\nIt will change
\neverything<\/em><\/p>\n

I am a prophetess, a seer<\/p>\n

In me
\nthe twin streams meet
\nHis blood, not drained
\nbut flowing with her reason
\nI have watched for it
\nwaited, afraid
\nof the madness, the badness
\nthe danger, but now
\nI think I may be
\nthe answer to the equation<\/p>\n

Numbers dance
\nto the beat of the iamb
\ntrochee, spondee
\nnumbers make music
\npoetry
\nif you listen
\nwith the right ear<\/p>\n

And so you see
\n…………………….<\/span> … <\/span>I am<\/em> his daughter
\nafter all<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

(c) Helen Rickerby<\/p>\n

Published in My Iron Spine<\/strong><\/em>, HeadworX, 2008<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>About Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace\u00a0 (1815\u20131852)<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h4>\n

Daughter of the poet Byron and his wife Annabella Milbanke. Her mother left Byron when Ada was one month old, believing him mad and immoral. He was never allowed to see Ada again. Fond of mathematics herself, Annabella had Ada trained in maths in the hope it would discipline her away from any poetic or deviant nature she may have inherited from her father. Ada is best known for her notes to her translation of a scientific paper explaining Charles Babbage\u2019s design for the Analytical Engine, a precursor to the computer. She has been called the first computer programmer because one of the notes contains what is generally considered to be the first (albeit theoretical) computer program. It was Charles Babbage who called Lovelace the “Enchantress of Numbers”, writing the following in 1843 (Toole 1998, Acknowledgment):<\/p>\n

\n
“Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans\u00a0\u2013 every thing in short but the Enchantress of Numbers.”<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

About Helen Rickerby<\/a>:<\/h4>\n

Resident in Wellington, New Zealand, Helen Rickerby is a fellow Tuesday Poet, Managing Editor of Seraph Press, and co-managing editor of JAAM<\/em> with Clare Needham. Helen has published her work in various literary journals, mainly in New Zealand. Her first collection of poetry, Abstract Internal Furniture<\/a>, was published by HeadworX in 2001 and her second, My Iron Spine<\/em><\/a>, followed in 2008.<\/p>\n

Enchantress of Numbers<\/em> is one of the very many, fine poems in My Iron Spine<\/strong><\/em>, which I have recently read and enjoyed very much.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub<\/strong> and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets around the world, click here<\/strong><\/a> or on the Quill<\/strong> icon<\/strong> in the sidebar.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

And don’t forget: <\/strong>this month\u2019s \u201d \u2026 on Anything, Really\u201d<\/em><\/strong> feature<\/strong> is \u201cFun With Thornspell.\u201d You can find out more here<\/strong><\/a> and here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enchantress of Numbers Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace . One On the table is a dancing girl made of silver, spun by gears and cogs\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0she pirouettes ………………….she arabesques and when she begins to slow I wind the key again …….let her go My father the poet, my mother the parallelogram ……….two lines ……….that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-writers","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7462"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7861,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462\/revisions\/7861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}